Weekly Movie Challenge

Herman J. Mankiewicz

Biography

Herman Jacob Mankiewicz (November 7, 1897 – March 5, 1953; New York City) was an American screenwriter, who, with Orson Welles, wrote the screenplay for Citizen Kane (1941). Earlier, he was the Berlin correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and the drama critic for The New York Times and The New Yorker. Alexander Woollcott said that Herman Mankiewicz was the "funniest man in New York". Both Mankiewicz and Welles received Academy Awards for their screenplay. Mankiewicz's younger brother was Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909–1993), an Oscar-winning Hollywood director, screenwriter, and producer. His nephew Tom Mankiewicz (1942 – 2010) was also a screenwriter and director.

He was often asked to fix the screenplays of other writers, with much of his work uncredited. Occasional flashes of what came to be called the "Mankiewicz humor" and satire distinguished his films, and became valued in the films of the 1930s. The style of writing included a slick, satirical, and witty humor, which depended almost totally on dialogue to carry the film. It was a style that would become associated with the "typical American film" of that period. Among the screenplays he wrote or worked on, besides "Citizen Kane", were "The Wizard of Oz", "Man of the World", "Dinner at Eight", "Pride of the Yankees", and "The Pride of St. Louis". Film critic Pauline Kael credits Mankiewicz with having written, alone or with others, "about forty of the films I remember best from the twenties and thirties. ... he was a key linking figure in just the kind of movies my friends and I loved best.".

Mankiewicz was an alcoholic. Ten years before his death, he wrote: “I seem to become more and more of a rat in a trap of my own construction, a trap that I regularly repair whenever there seems to be danger of some opening that will enable me to escape. I haven’t decided yet about making it bomb proof. It would seem to involve a lot of unnecessary labor and expense". A future Hollywood biographer went so far as to suggest that Mankiewicz’s behavior “made him seem erratic even by the standards of Hollywood drunks.” Herman Mankiewicz died March 5, 1953, of uremic poisoning, at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles.

Actor

Citizen Kane

1941

as Newspaperman (uncredited)

The Front Page

1931

as (Undetermined Secondary Role)

The Mating Call

1928

as Newspaperman

Writing

Dinner at Eight

1989

Writer

The Pride of St. Louis

1952

Screenplay

A Woman's Secret

1949

Screenplay

The Spanish Main

1945

Screenplay

The Enchanted Cottage

1945

Writer

The Enchanted Cottage

1945

Screenplay

Christmas Holiday

1944

Screenplay

See Here, Private Hargrove

1944

Writer

The Good Fellows

1943

Screenplay

The Human Comedy

1943

Writer

Stand by for Action

1942

Screenplay

The Pride of the Yankees

1942

Screenplay

This Time for Keeps

1942

Characters

Rise and Shine

1941

Screenplay

Citizen Kane

1941

Screenplay

The Wild Man of Borneo

1941

Screenplay

Keeping Company

1940

Story

Comrade X

1940

Writer

The Ghost Comes Home

1940

Staff Writer

The Wizard of Oz

1939

Staff Writer

It's a Wonderful World

1939

Original Story

Live, Love and Learn

1937

Writer

My Dear Miss Aldrich

1937

Screenplay

My Dear Miss Aldrich

1937

Original Story

The Emperor's Candlesticks

1937

Dialogue

Street of Shadows

1937

Writer

John Meade's Woman

1937

Writer

Love in Exile

1936

Writer

Suzy

1936

Writer

San Francisco

1936

Writer

The Three Maxims

1936

Adaptation

The Perfect Gentleman

1935

Writer

It's in the Air

1935

Writer

The Murder Man

1935

Writer

Escapade

1935

Screenplay

After Office Hours

1935

Screenplay

Stamboul Quest

1934

Screenplay

Operator 13

1934

Writer

Come On, Marines!

1934

Writer

The Show-Off

1934

Screenplay

Dinner at Eight

1933

Screenplay

Meet the Baron

1933

Story

Another Language

1933

Writer

Fast Workers

1933

Screenplay

Girl Crazy

1932

Adaptation

The Lost Squadron

1932

Dialogue

Dancers in the Dark

1932

Writer

Dude Ranch

1931

Writer

Ladies' Man

1931

Writer

Man of the World

1931

Screenplay

Man of the World

1931

Story

Every Woman Has Something

1931

Adaptation

Leave the kitchen!

1931

Adaptation

The Royal Family of Broadway

1930

Adaptation

Laughter

1930

Writer

Love Among the Millionaires

1930

Dialogue

True to the Navy

1930

Dialogue

Ladies Love Brutes

1930

Screenplay

Honey

1930

Writer

Honey

1930

Dialogue

Men Are Like That

1930

Adaptation

The Vagabond King

1930

Screenplay

The Mighty

1929

Dialogue

Fast Company

1929

Writer

Thunderbolt

1929

Writer

The Man I Love

1929

Story

The Dummy

1929

Writer

The Canary Murder Case

1929

Dialogue

The Love Doctor

1929

Dialogue

What a Night!

1928

Dialogue

Three Week Ends

1928

Dialogue

Avalanche

1928

Screenplay

Avalanche

1928

Dialogue

Take Me Home

1928

Dialogue

Moran of the Marines

1928

Writer

The Barker

1928

Dialogue

The Water Hole

1928

Dialogue

The Mating Call

1928

Dialogue

The Big Killing

1928

Writer

The Magnificent Flirt

1928

Dialogue

His Tiger Lady

1928

Dialogue

The Drag Net

1928

Dialogue

Abie's Irish Rose

1928

Dialogue

A Night of Mystery

1928

Dialogue

Something Always Happens

1928

Dialogue

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

1928

Dialogue

The Last Command

1928

Writer

Love and Learn

1928

Dialogue

Serenade

1927

Dialogue

Two Flaming Youths

1927

Dialogue

The Gay Defender

1927

Dialogue

Honeymoon Hate

1927

Dialogue

The Spotlight

1927

Dialogue

The City Gone Wild

1927

Dialogue

Figures Don't Lie

1927

Writer

A Gentleman of Paris

1927

Writer

Fashions for Women

1927

Writer

Stranded in Paris

1926

Adaptation

The Road to Mandalay

1926

Story

Herman J. Mankiewicz

Actor

Production

Writing

Crew